W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M
71
"e new sport which has lately been introduced at Beloit is
skeeing. ey are long ash planks... turned up at the end, and are
warranted to take down hill quicker than a wink. After some practice
performers become very expert, and the speed with which they go
is something surprising (Beloit College, Wisconsin, "Round Table,"
Dec. 18, 1885)."
is is one of the earliest mentions of the sport of skiing as prac-
ticed in the United States. Nineteenth century forms of the word
sometimes appeared as skee and skeeing, but by the 1920s, ski was the
standard American English spelling.
e ultimate source of ski is the Old Norse skith, literally, "stick
of wood." Americans (and everyone else in the world) borrowed its
modern descendant ski directly from the Norwegian language.
While for centuries Laplanders skied behind harnessed reindeer, North
American skiers attached themselves to galloping Quarter Horses. Enter
equestrian skijoring, where Scandinavia meets the Wild West. Experimen-
tation with the sport began with the 10th Mountain Division "Soldiers on
Skis" in the late 1940s as they returned from WWII.
Equestrian skijoring has since organized and become competitive. e annual
World Skijoring Championships are held in Whitefish.
Another word of Norwegian origin, skijoring (ski + kjøre "to drive") has now
become a standard entry in every American English dictionary.
SKI/SKIJORING
DONNIE SEXTON
Little Bear 1/2 page
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